Idea v. Expression Flashcards
What is protected under the Berne convention and the TRIPs agreement?
Expressions in whatever form are protected. Ideas and facts are not protected, as well as news of the day, procedures, methods of operation and mathematical concepts shall not be protected
What does the usa legislation say about ideas and expressions?
They have a similar view as the one of Berne Convention and TRIPs agreement: copyright protection shall not be entended to ideas, procedures, process, system…
What is the case Nichols v. universal pictures about?
It sets the similarities between two plays at a certain level, because copyright protection is not limited to literal copying. They had to decide whether and to what extent the defendant took protected expressions and not unprotected ideas. In the end, the court decided that there was not an infringement of copyright, also because “Upon any work, and especially upon a play, a great number of patterns of increasing generality will fit equally well, as more and more of the incident is left out. “
What was decided in the case Baker v Selden, about the description of a system in a book?
Baker (Defendant) sold forms similar to forms contained in a bookkeeping system within Selden’s (Plaintiff) copyrighted book. The defendant uses a similar plan so far as results are concerned; but makes a different arrangement of the columns, and uses different headings. The Supreme Court famously held that copyright in an explanatory text on bookkeeping gave the author no exclusive rights to the novel system of accounting disclosed therein. Baker v. Selden is often thought of as an illustration of the line between idea and expression, but the forms at the back of Selden’s book were not uncopyrightable because they were too abstract or generic; they were uncopyrightable because they embodied a functional system.
What is the merger doctrine?
It happens when the idea and the expression are too close to one another that is difficult to separate them, consequently it is also difficult to protect only the expression, and the copyright in the expression would prevent others from using the idea. The “merger doctrine” holds that, in certain circumstances, where authors have only one or very few ways of expressing an idea or
function, the expression and the idea are merged, and the expression is treated as
unprotectable. For example, what was decided in the case Morrisey v Procter and Gamble Co., where the plaintiff had copyright over a set of rules for a sales promotional contest, and it alleged that the defendant had copied it. The court have decided that when the idea is very narrow, so that the topic requires a very limited number of forms of expression, to permit copyright would mean a party could exhaust all future possibilities of the use of it.
Explain the scènes à faire doctrine.
Scènes à faire = “scenes that must be done” standard expressive devices that are commonly required when dealing with a particular subject. Under the scènes à faire doctrine stock or standard literary devices are not considered protectable, even if they are expressive. As the Second Circuit explained in Hoehling v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 618 F.2d 972, 979 (2dCir. 1980), the scènes à faire doctrine is justified on the basis that “it is virtually impossible to write about a particular historical era or fictional theme without employing certain ‘stock’ or standard literary devices.”
What is the EU view on the exclusion of functional elements?
While EU law does not explicitly exclude protection for facts, ideas, functions and processes
in relation to copyright subject matter other than computer programs, the principle of
originality as “author’s own intellectual creation”
operates a substantial limitation vis-à-vis copyright protection for functional elements of a
work. These include not only elements that are merely dictated by their technical function, but
also elements that depend on rules, parameters and organisational constraints, like the fixture of football matches.
What’s the view of the EU in the idea/expression in computer programs?
It was decided by the CJEU that the components of a graphic user interface do not permit the author to express his creativity in an original manner, and that the functionality of a computer program cannot be protected by copyright, otherwise it would amount to making it possible to monopolise ideas.
What elements should be taken into consideration in order to be considered a “work” in the EU?
It has to be expressed in a manner which makes it identifiable with precision and objectivity, not necessarily in a permanent form. For exemple, the taste of a food is not identifiable in a precise and objective way thus cannot be protected. Aesthectic impressions are also not protected because of the same reason.
Make a sum up of the copyright subsistence under EU law
A subject matter of copyright protection should:
- Contain elements that express the author’s own
intellectual creation Infopaq (i.e.that reflect the author’s personality Eva Maria Painer; in the sense that s/he was able to make free and creative
choices Eva Maria Painer; i.e. not dictated dictated by technical considerations, rules or constraints which leave no room for creative freedom ( FAPL, Football Dataco , Brompton Bicycle)
- Be identifiable with sufficient precision and objectivity (Levola Hengelo, Cofemel)
